Dead photos and some Easter ramblings

I recently got an I Phone, which Michael thought I would never get much use out of. You can buy and download books onto it, recently at dinner we hated the music in the restaurant so we downloaded songs and played them on it, you can also download funky camera programs which allow you to alter your pics with all sorts of 'filters'. Here are a couple of shots that were my favourites after applying the filters.

Some of them are a bit eerie, but it was the effect I was intending, its mesmerising how scary some of them are. Sorry of these offend anyone.  I was joking to Michael after I'd taken them, that if I'd died in the night, someone would pick up my phone to look at the last things I'd taken photos of,  and think that some sicko has taken photos of a dead body. Luckily I'm not dead, so rest assured.

I have been looking at SLR cameras lately, as I feel I am starting to outgrow my little compact. I've started to experiment with all the settings and have actually improved my compositions by reading a few good magazines and taking on good advice.  Last week I left the house an hour before I started work, just to take photos of the light at this time of year that hits the dew (its heavy now, soon it wil be outright frost). There are amazing fog banks that start to settle in our valley around 6:30am and the light that shines through the fog is mesmerising.  Last year I always promised myself that I would stop and take photos but I never did.

I'll put up my shots in the next blog, but I'm hoping to head out on Good Friday to get some more (they have to be Good shots).

A weird thing today, we got paper wrapped books delivered in plastic freezer bags in the mail box from the Adventis people.  Michael usually has the Morman or Jehovahs Witness person come 'round once a month or so to drop off the Watchtower magazines.  He is too polite to tell her that he's Catholic. She even came out during the flood aftermath in our quagmire of a driveway, but I haven't personally seen her since the day I answered the door in my dressing gown at 10am (we live in the middle of nowhere, we never get people just dropping by). She knew Michael by name and was shocked to see me (I think she thought that I was the bit on the side- his downfalling).

 I offered a book to each of the cats but they declined. It seems that the books didn't smell right to cats. Not surprising though, I was just astounded that they delivered two books.  As if Michael and I would go into solitary reading separately over easter while he is pumping out 150 + meals a day and I am entertaining like there's no tomorrow.

They will join my book shelf of Hare Krishna cookbooks, the bible, the "Survivor' book (I think its by the Mormons as well) and the other religious stuff we have somehow accumulated.  I am however an avid fan of hot cross buns, but you you dont get many of them shoved in your letter box. Pity, it would make a better impression on the cats.

A Day on the Green

Rosewood Bowls Club at sober o'clock



If you live or know of Australia you'd be picturing some kind of music festival with a title like this. If you live where we do, there's no other kind of green, especially on a staff outing.  Tearing ourselves away from work recently on a Monday we startled the older folk of the local bowling club by booking them out for a bowls afternoon. 

The invites stipulated 'best bowls gear'.  For some that meant all whites, grey hair spray, hats and the whole caboodle. The first boy that walked into the bar with his hat on was told off by the barman for wearing a hat in the clubhouse (ladies can wear hats, so I did).

We were given our scorecards to fill out, told the rules, provided with bowls and shored up with drinks, then taken outside to actually play.  In 35 degree heat, it was last thing we expected - to actually bowl. The karaoke machine we'd hired beckoned, the cheap vodka mixer drinks, the dip and crackers, the wheel of cheese and above all, the conversation. The ladies room is what impressed me the most, tucked away in the back corner of the club, just before entering the ladies bathroom, is the ladies room, with 4 pink armchairs, pink walls, surely a refuge away from the men on play days.



The white wonders

All afternoon long, one of the two older (is it polite to say elderly?) men who were waiting on us, started to prepare our dinner (all inclusive bowls and dinner package for $15, bargain - we blew our budget at Christmas). He lovingly peeled every potato, carrot, chopped finely all the other things for our dinner.  We all felty guilty but joyous at the surely wonderful roast dinner to come.

County folk dont wear white, just hats

 Out on the green we were all a little bit crap.  My sister was there, 'the bowls nazi' as known by some by the end of the afternoon.  She kept everyone in check,  Which was good because for an hour we didn;t realise that we were all playing with  mixed sets of bowls and scoring may have been a tensy bit biased (no pun intended). By the time all of our party were there, it was well on 3 drinks o'clock, and in the hot sun, it meant that someone in every round kept 'accidently' bowling the wrong bowl, which really pissed Alysia off.

I made a very fluky good bowl, which was noted within the club house by a lady bowler at the bar (the same lady later did a head spin on the dance floor, followed by the splits - no kidding, she was one of the original white hairs who we had orginally felt precious about). All in all, it was a hysterical afternoon.  However, all was not yet done.


Some folk think its the other kind of bowls

 The roast dinner which had lovingly been prepared over 4 hours was delicious, with potatoes only like Nana can make, with a fantastic crunch (oh so naughty). Jelly with custard and fruit followed. Then...karaoke.

It started innocently enough, but after 'Vanilla Ice' performed, we had the drag show, followed soon by the head spinning senior citizen. Flanked by backing dancers in all white, every performer brought something new to the floor until the giggles meant everyone was thirsty again.

By ten o'clock (approx 12 drinks o'clock in the old time), the fridge of vodka mixers was down to the flavours that no body liked. Then the maxi taxi turned up.

All tucked into bed by 10:30pm.  The lady 'nazi' bowler had to leave early the next day for home.  However we had the sweet sense of satisfaction that Pop would have been proud, but not of the singing....

Its a beautiful day

The morning sun over our paddock

This morning was my first day off after bit of a stint.  I've been working live a slave (self-imposed rather than having a whip-cracking boss over me, though we do have whip cracking on the property on a daily basis - but more for guests).  In the last week I think I've not so much saluted the sun as asked it to meet me later for coffee.

We had the wedding expo in Brisbane this weekend and for the first time ever, a bridal expo left me cold.  It wasn't so much the same old people exhibiting or the thousands of people all looking for the same thing, or even the 14 year old child-bride models.  It wasn't the fact that we had to wear oh so sexy fluro yellow vests to set up and pack down, or even the disastrous day we had on Friday in getting there (it poured- open trailer - two haybales...). Nor was it even that we spent the whole weekend across from a diamond stand and I saw nothing I liked. But its all over now, like a bad dream.

Today was a blissful day, full of purpose.  Last week I got cranky because I have nothing especial to look forward to, and on a random errand in Toowoomba, we stopped in at the travel agency and started to seriously consider our next holiday.

Today, armed with all of our propaganda, full of astericks for the places we really liked, we brought a couple of lonely planet guides and set off for lunch.  We studied our guides and wrote our lists, and then fortified, went back to the travel agent to get quotes.

I felt like the biggest snob.  The agent immediately started to work out the cheapest deal, the family friendly 4 star resort full of crowds of people and pools and water sports that active people like to enjoy. He suggested a 5 day all inclusive tour, on a bus. He recommended that we cut out the most interesting city of the three that we wanted to visit beacuse it is expensive to get there.

I found myself asking the agent to look for hotels that were less child friendly, insisting on the fancy beach hotel on stilts over water because it looked nice in the picture (even though it is probably far above our price range).  I also had to explain that we weren't looking for a trekking holiday and when he suggested a train, all I was concerned about was whether it was rickerty and Michael asked whether its the kind of train that people sit on the roof.  We put our foots down - no bus tours (at least the kind that are more than half a day loing). We have become so old before our years, we should be embracing hostels and backpacks and mud and the best deal possible, but all we could think of was comfort and doing as little as possible.  Is this so wrong?

As it turns out, the places we are looking to go have a pretty good exchange rate at the moment, and the fancy hotel on stilts is cheaper than where we work now because they are in the middle of their soft opening (which means that you are guinea pigs). We are pretty excited about the prospect of the trip and I have already started thinking of titles for my travel book (Michael finally bought me Microsoft Word so that I can start writing my award winning novel that will fund this overseas adventure). 

A New Beginning

There has not been much to blog about this past month.  After our New Years Eve again party the uplifting effect of renewed well being lasted for a few days before we felt plunged back into the unknown of the weather.

Hair cut after rainy day so frizzy, also realised have big nose

No more dramatic incidents have passed since, except for a 6:00am decision to leave the house because we were rapidly becoming trapped on the wrong side of the creek.  But the bags remain packed by the front door, as if we are perpetually expecting a baby or something equally exciting. So I am living out of my shower case for all essentials, two sets of shampoo, one always packed, two sets of toothbrushes etc, one exciting set of clothes for restaurant, book,  you get the picture.

While it may seem silly, the fact is that we have been flooded in on several occasions this past month (at the drop of a hat really) and even this afternoon after all day drizzle, likely to be flooded in again by the time Michael gets home.

However, all of this is not so dreary as it sounds.  We had a stunningly fabulous Valentines day in which we got out of the land of flood and into the land of torrential rainforest at Montville. Upgraded to the super duper Deluxe Executive Luxury Suite on the top floor in our sister property,  room Ten to those in the know, we enjoyed 3 decadent days where every wine we ordered was out of stock, so they upgraded us to a more spectacular wine (eg from $109AUD to $179AUD), an amazing massage (Michael was quite surprised, he's never had a massage before and I didn't tell him I'd arranged it until the morning of so he didn't have time to freak out, and it was a male masseuse to boot.), as well as a Valentines Dinner that was billed as Champagne and Flowers which featured edible flowers in every course. No ring, but we went ring shopping (gasp I hear you say - and me). But nothing came of it.

So after all this up and down of dreary then not dreary, then dreary and then very very hard 13 days of work in a row, we decided to start replacing the things that we lost in the flood.  The first thing was the mower. Previous to now we had this thing that Mum's dad brought for $50, which was an old Victa with a sideways mounted engine. We got a bargain on ebay for a self propelled magnifique thingy that Michael adores.

We got a new vacuum, (the old one died in sympathy with the other appliances a week after the flood). We spent 2 seconds picking it out in the shop.  I then spend almost an hour drooling over cameras.

I have wanted a new camera since my Olympus was devastated by water last year during a bridal expo (yes - random, I know).  The floods made it just that little bit worse, and now it has barely any pixels left on its screen and refuses to focus. My ultimate treat to myself is to buy a new (water proof and shockproof) camera that is more reliable.  I was suckered into a blue Lumix which can go 3m deep (might need it one day if I decide to go to a diving pool). It is fabulous as is takes black and white grainy pictures that make you look like a movie star.




New camera, taken with the old camera that doesn't focus (sorry)

 So thats it, you are up to date.Other records that have been set recently include going 4 weeks without grocery shopping, staying in more hotel rooms in one week than most reps (12 days and counting for Jan and Feb), and having neighbours that steal driveways (not kidding - we lose a little bit each weekend when their friends come with a bobcat).

Hopefully. next time there will be more interesting news. Michael's dad told him not to come back for a visit until he puts a ring on the finger. Considering we've spoken 5 words to each other between sleep and work for the last 3 weeks, it may be awhile.  Keep you posted.

Another close call

This evening started like many others.  Work until about 6:00pm, head for home etc.  Michael called me at about 6:00pm to ask me when I was coming home because it looked like hail and a big storm.  I'd been caught up in a meeting and we hadn't looked at the bom site all afternoon.

6:30pm I left work just at the beginning of the storm, the rain was falling fast and heavy and half way home I realised that I should have just waited it out at work.  It was so heavy that it was hard to drive and there was water running everywhere.

6:40pm When I got to the beginning of our road, I noticed that all of the small causeways were full, even though it had just been raining for ten minutes or so.  The stretch of road past the neighbour's house was almost a foot underwater. I thought again about turning back, but was closer to home and decided that if the creek causeway was underwater, then I would wait it out back at work.

6:45pm When I reached the creek, it was about 5 inches above the concrete causeway.  When I left home this morning it was running so low that you could almost say that in a day or two it would be completlye dry again. Because of the speed in which it had risen, I started to panic and called Michael. I told him that if I crossed the creek there was a chance we would not get out again tonight. But I also didn't want to go back the way I'd come, which was also getting higher.

6:46pm I crossed the creek and alerted Michael that we would pack straight away when we got back home. He was waiting for me at the gate, just 30 seconds later. I stepped out of the car into ankle deep water and walked through the gate to get in Michael's car (the ruts mean I cant take my car past the gate). The ruts were almost full of water and I stepped straight into one up to my knees in my stockings and shoes.

6:50pm At home we packed quickly and I called work to say we'd be back within 10 minutes for a room.

7:00pm We got back to the creek in the car and it had gone up another  foot or so, but it running much faster than only 15 minutes before. We decided not to chance it because we've seen it at all heights now and made a deal with ourselves not to cross it if we cant see any of the concrete and it has waves in it (it was as high as the video I posted back in December).

We turned back to go home.

7:02pm We reach our gate and a wave of water riding on top of the water already flowing it coming towards us down the driveway. It was literally a wave surfing on top of the flow. Within seconds it was flowing hard down the driveway and road and into the neighbour's paddock. We realised that something larger had given way at that moment and we were watching the first gush.

We reversed back to the creek to have another go and break our rule.

7:04pm The water was up another foot or so, to the tops of the white indicators (see the movie I posted from Sunday 9th and you'll get the picture).

We realised that the water was just rising everywhere and that we'd trapped ourselves with nowhere to go.  We tried to drive back up the driveway, thinking that it wasn't that deep after the initial wave but the back tyres got caught in a rut at the gate and we stalled.  Michael was able to reverse out of the submerged rut and we got back to a dryer part of the road. We sat in the car for a few minutes and pondered sitting there all night waiting for the water to subside.

A call from my boss confirmed what we had decided, that we would have to get out and wade back to the house, if we could.

We left our stuff in the car which we'd parked on a higher verge on the side of the road and started back to the driveway. Imagine me, in my gumboots, knee length work skirt tucked into undies,  work shirt, climbing a fence from knee deep water to knee deep water.

By this stage it was quite dark with lightning still lighting things up around. The rain had all but stopped. We had a small torch between us.  Michael went first and it was hard to stay on track because everything was underwater.  The whole paddock was a rushing lake. We walked small firm footsteps feeling for the compacted parts under our feet. If it wasn't so scary it would have been a hilarious scene in a movie.

When we got back to the house we inspected the laundry where our new washing machine was working away.  It was just delivered today and we were worried that with the rate that water had come up that it might have gone under the house again and into the laundry. Luckily the water didn't reach the house and the washing machine was safe.

Not taking any chances through, we emptied it out and hauled it up 8 steps to the back porch.(still in gumboot and afore mentioned attire).  Super human strength possible with all of that adrenalin.

We checked the bom and saw that the next storm was still a couple of hours away. Then I checked the site that monitors the creek where it goes under the bridge at Grandchester.  It went from a measily 0.33m at 6:50pm to a peak of 4.88m at 8:30pm. Almost at the levels where it was last Tuesday. Since 8:30pm, it has only dropped 30cm (it was 10pm when I last looked). Amazing. Just goes to show that after 6 days of searing heat and sunshine, the ground is still saturated.

We can hear the creek running now, it sounds like a train, with a deep rumble that is eerie after a couple of fine days. No chance of getting out tonight while it is still so high, based on recent experiences but as long as the rain holds off we should be ok.  Hopefully we will get out tomorrow morning and that the next storm will be a fizzler.

I keep trying to convince everyone that we need another New Years Eve party, and that we should write off the last 19 days as the year 2010 B. That way we can look back on that short 19 day year and say, gee, wasnt that year a stinker?  And start fresh with 2011.

The clean up

This is what we walked into on the day following the flood.  This is our back shed and is is covered in mud. Some of the boxes have fallen apart in the water and what you can see if Michael's comic collection which exploded all over the floor.

This is the other part of the room which had my winter clothes in it and the shaggy rug, luckily all our linen was up high

The mud in the laundry, we have a new washing machine coming hopefully on Wednesday

The pile of stuff we have had to throw out so far.

The clean up has been a pretty feral job.  The mud is slippery and smelly and has gone through all the things that we thought might be ok with a day in the sun. Luckily it was not in our house, I cant imagine the mammoth task that many people in Ipswich and Brisbane are facing this weekend.

Laidley has been told to boil their drinking water because they have ecoli, as with many places in the Lockyer Valley. We heard that 90% of people in Laidley have no flood insurance.  The water went all through the main street, with many businesses devastated. I heard about a lady who ended up with 150 pumpkins in her backyard from upstream.

Yesterday we went grocery shopping for the first time.  All week we have been at working, working and just staying away from our house which was still piled high with stuff from Tuesday's scramble to get everything up high. Most of the suppliers were uncontactable for a couple of days, and then weren't sure when they'd get here as the road from Toowoomba has been shut. We ended up sending a staff member to the Gold Coast to buy bread and milk.

So we were a little worried about what we'd find. We had heard that Rosewood IGA had several deliveries a day (Laidley has not been getting any deliveries apparently as the damage is still too high - the day of the flood passers by could see all the food bobbing around inside the glass doors of the IGA). We found that it was not too hard to find things we needed, they had basics like bread and milk (in limited amounts) and meat was no problem, the fruit and veg was the worst with everything very bruised and in very small quantities, but if you want Duck Fat or a Duckling or some expensive cheese, no problem.

The weather since Tuesday has been excellent, sunny and warm and no rain, though it clouds over every day and we are due for thunder storms mid week. Its strange when a city gets flooded in fine weather like Brisbane did.   They are calling the incident on Monday a cloud burst, a cloud that is so full it just explodes in one hit.  On Tuesday we had three storms that were part of a slow moving rain band, which means that instead of dropping a little rain and moving on as a storm does, you get the whole storm in one place as its moving so slowly, all the rain and all the thunder, for a couple of hours.

Its a very hotly argued topic, as so many people are being denied by their insurance companies.  Michael called on Wednesday and the lady said she could class us as storm damage, but the guy on Thursday said we were flood, so we are not sure what is going to happen with our claim. Technically we were only being flooded during the rain storm, you could see the water drop each time the rain eased. So we have to wait and see.

One thing is sure, because of the extent of the disaster the donations to the Premiers Flood Relief thing have stalled somewhat. Probably because there is now 75% of QLD declared a disaster area, and flooding in 4 states, which means that an awful lot of people have no choice but to hold their money close to rebuild their lives as they aren't covered by insurance.  Its different to the VIC bushfires, which only affected a proportion of the state, and little of the other states at the same time. It will be interesting to see how the government deals with it.

The other interesting thing that has just happened in the past few days is the 'them and us' attitude that has sprung up in some places by locals who have been affected, or know people in the Lockyer or Toowoomba. I am only writing this as an observation of what has been said to me, not as a personal opinion. The coverage in the last few days on radio and TV has largely focussed on Brisbane and Ipswich residents. The radio is jammed with these people ringing up with their story and what they did and didn't save etc. Locals here are complaining about the fact that Brisbane people had 1-2 days notice before the flood, and therefore time to save themselves and possessions, whereas many friends of locals in Lockyer and Toowoomba have died from having no notice, or half an hour max when the emergency automated phone calls came through on Tuesday morning.

Its a very touchy subject and not one that I anticipiated would come out so strongly during the crisis.  Degrees of suffering are still suffering. But things in this part of the valley are sad for the human loss, with friends of friends being found throughout the week. They are sick of hearing about things that are lost.

 

The video of the flood